The agenda

Days ago we told you to expect some changes in 2019, as the vote-hungry federal Libs feel intense pressure to throttle back on measures now driving a stake through the cold hearts of real estate bulls. Next year, after all, brings a general election. T2 has spent his mandate cuddling moisters and courting women. Young Tory Scheer has fashioned himself as a kinder, chubbier Harper. Mad Max is the dark, brooding northern Trump. Jagmeet has confirmed he’s one of the NDP’s biggest-ever mistakes (an accomplishment).

Since politics is math, the Trudeau gang feels pretty good. Any votes Max gets will come from the Cons, not the Libs. The Dippers have imploded. Quebec separatists are so done. And the ghost of Tony Clement hangs like an unending flatulence over the opposition lobby. So all Trudeau needs to do, he figures, is retain the burgeoning Mill vote by pandering to that cohort’s inbed house lust.

There’s no doubt the combo of rising rates, the B20 stress test and an uneven landscape of provincial policies (BC’s the worst) have killed housing’s bull market. For example, sales and prices of detached houses in Vancouver have tanked as few imagined. Sale prices have pizzled between 10% and 17% from East Van to the toniest parts of the Westside. High-end values have cratered and even in places like Burnaby and Richmond it’s tough to find buyers without a serious haircut first.

In Toronto there’s an air of suicidal desperation in the new house industry. Prices continue to wither, with the largest monthly drop since 1996. Detached home sales are currently running 65% below the 10-year average. There are 44% fewer condo sales than a year ago. Prices for singles are down 8.5% over the past year, with demand shifting to cheaper condos. The average new high-rise box now costs a withering $775,000.

And look at debt. Ugly. A fresh CMHC report this week says homeowners in Toronto and Van continue to snorfle record levels of borrowed money. That’s pushed the average debt-to-disposable income level to 208% in the GTA and 242% in Van. Says the federal agency: “With interest rates on the rise, highly indebted households could see their increased required payments exceed their budgets. Highly indebted households have unusually few debt consolidation options to respond to increasing debt service costs.”

Meanwhile the explosion in sub-prime borrowing is epic. In order to circumvent the stress test large numbers of people are opting for the shadows, taking loans from non-bank lenders, often at rates exceeding 8% (and sometimes in the double-digits). These folks do not even show up in federal debt stats.

So the stress test, it’s now generally agreed, has reduced the amount of available credit by about a fifth. Kids who could afford an $800,000 house two years ago are now shopping the in the low-six range. To bridge the gap some municipalities are actually giving away down payments, openly encouraging homeownership and big debt. Like Toronto, where gifted ‘second mortgages’ that require zero interest payments are available for $135,000 to buy some condos valued to close to $600,000.

Finally, out of T2’s hands entirely are the Trotskyites running BC. That province is now the most anti-wealth place in Canada. Since so many people there believe house = rich, it’s no wonder the NDP overlords have a campaign against real estate. The anti-Chinese Dude tax stands at 20% and has been expanded. The ridiculous speculation tax is a levy on secondary houses – nothing to do with specking or flipping. There’s an empty houses tax and an uber property tax. Now we have the infamous Meng arrest, an obvious public policy mistake, further telegraphing that this is a capricious, unstable and hostile place in which to invest. Especially if you’re Asian.

So, what next?

2019 will bring much change. Yes, interest rates will still rise – probably twice next year – but the pace of the increase will be slower than anticipated, following the Fed’s lead. The bank cop, OSFI, may bow to pressure from the PMO and cap the stress test rate, but it will not be eliminated. CMHC might allow 30-year mortgages to again be insured in an attempt to move more sub-prime money to regulated lenders. And the $1 million cap on insured properties could also be modified, since that only buys you a dump in 416 or most of YVR.

Some of this may occur before the autumn, but a wise prime minister fighting to retain his majority government would probably wait and make it a plank of his re-election platform.

First he gave them weed. Now condos. What else are great nations built of?

My wife is from the Toronto area and I hear about what some of her friends are up to regarding house purchases…it’s insane…no hope for retirement
I feel very fortunate to be living in the 902, with great jobs and a wonderful, affordable home(tho Ide rather be renting)

Looks like it’s time for U.S. and Canadian businesses to shut down operations in China and bring all the jobs back home. Always remember you can’t trust the Communists.
I would expect that in the not to distant future China will Nationalize all foreign company assets since they are already detaining and arresting foreign business leaders right now. This is now the end of investing in China since they are proving that they cannot be trusted to do business with and there are now hints that a Nationalization is coming.

As much as people poke fun at Cow Town, the houses are reasonably priced when compared to incomes, we have the highest salaries, some of the lowest taxes and the opportunity to enjoy a great outdoor lifestyle.

Main thing I miss about Toronto is going to Jays, Raptors and Leafs games. Tough being a die hard T.O fan in these parts.

I always find it funny when people complain about traffic on the Deerfoot here. Obviously have never driven on the 401, or 400 North on a Friday as everyone herds to cottage country and Barrie. Don’t miss that crap at all.

What’s not to like? We LOVE the NDP here, Garth. We are currently dealing with a, “the houses that fentanyl built,” crisis that the federal govt refuses to address.

China WANTS their criminals back but the Trudeau government refuses to allow it! Meanwhile thousands have died in B.C and across Canada. What’s the message here?

It’s okay for Canadians of all ethnic backgrounds, to die but suspected (or proven) drug lords can’t be sent back to China because they may…wait for it…face the death penalty.

And then the arrest of Meng? We’ve arrested an apparently innocent person to help the U.S.gain leverage in a trade war? And over a trumped up charge that represent the very worst of imperial politics to begin with? (Iran sanctions b.s.)

I am SO ashamed to be Canadian sometimes. So lovely Meng who has probably done everything right in her life and is no doubt a lovely and good person is in jail while fentanyl kings get off Scott free?

Something is very wrong here. The NDP govt through our attorney general is trying to get a handle on it, but they have their hands tied by what looks like corruption from the bottom to the top.

This has nothing to do with China and the Chinese, per se. It has everything to do with high crime and misdemeanours, foreign and domestic.

Sorry for the run on sentences. People who don’t live in b.c simply can’t understand the real anguish here…ruined lives, unnecessary deaths, and terrible economic stress.

Hi Garth. I usually agree with most of what you have to say, but calling the Meng arrest a public policy mistake is one I don’t agree with. She is aledged to have broken the law in Canada, and there was a warrant out for her arrest. Plain and simple. Are you suggesting it was a mistake to arrest a Chinese citizen, or is it because she is very rich and therefore above the law? I just don’t u derstand your take on this one.

I cannot for the life of me understand why a Canadian agent arrested Ms. Meng, a high profile individual with ties to the Chinese top level government and the daughter of a high profile Chinese businessman when she landed in Vancouver enroute to Mexico.

This could have been avoided. Her company’s alleged non-compliance of arbitrary US concocted sanctions against Iran are absolutely non of Canada’s business!

Federal government should have intervened immediately and declared this a mistake, allowing Ms. Meng to continue to go about her travel and her business.

This is not helping Canada’s economy in any way. US politics are bully tactics. Shame on the PM’s office for not setting the record straight!

Now the word is that Canada is no longer a safe destination, a safe country to change planes and avoiding US legal challenges. Thousands of high profile foreign nationals are transiting through Canada or visiting Canada as they are in fear of being detained if they ever entered the US.

The arrest of a Chinese national set a very bad precedent and the ramifications are not yet totally clear but will put a permanent stain on Canada’s record of human rights champion and a nation with a sovereign judiciary.

Now 2 Canadian nationals are paying the price for Trudeau’s blunder and US foreign policy errors.

So is Canada going to take it up the arse from China? How do you negotiate trade deals when our citizens are detained illegally? How do you shake hands for long term commitment with a govt that has no morals?
Have you ever seen Putins tops guys….smart, experienced and intimating looking dudes. Ours are eyes wide open and have a clueless demeanor about them.
Sadly in regards to Meng, unless Trump jumps in to the rescue, my god what will happen to Canada if she is extradited?

I guess real estate is back on now. These real estate people got a great propaganda machine going! Unfortunately, the government thinks real estate is the only ace up the sleeve because it worked so well the last ten years, especially compared to the TSX. They haven’t done a good job developing anything else so I guess this is all we have. Given the debt levels, will housing reignite though? It might, considering it looks like BOC and federal government are at the mercy of debtors and this is probably as good as it gets for rates.

Days ago we told you to expect some changes in 2019, as the vote-hungry federal Libs feel intense pressure to throttle back on measures now driving a stake through the cold hearts of real estate bulls. Next year, after all, brings a general election. T2 has spent his mandate cuddling moisters and courting women.

He’s also run up the debt. Andrew Scheer would like nothing better than to have a single issue campaign: debt. T2 is not going to give it to him. Besides T2 doesn’t have much time. Any change has to be in place now. B20 took a year to bring in. Industry consultation, notice period. And there’s no guarantee that the housing market would improve or improve enough.

Ms. Meng was arrested because there was an international warrant for her arrest. Her name was on a passenger manifest, and it got flagged in the system.

Maybe you know more about the case than I do, but that’s my understanding of what happened.

The warrant may have been issued for political purposes, but Canada did what it was obligated to do as a matter of law.

Canada also respected the rule of law, and a 730-year western legal tradition, by granting Ms. Meng bail, and allowing her to reside in a luxurious, private home she owned in Vancouver, and receiving top-quality health care (and genuine medications) even if she has to pay out of pocket for them. 900 million Chinese citizens in China would be ecstatic to experience the same fate.

Ms. Meng could have been apprehended in Mexico. There, she would surely have faced a difficult stay in a Mexican jail, with Mexican state prison health care, while waiting for the Mexican authorities to get their affairs in order to bring her to trial.

That didn’t happen; Canada has been a decent host to Ms. Meng. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has taken two Canadians hostage.

I read the Chinese ambassador’s disgusting rant in today’s Globe and Mail. If this piece is to explain the Chinese government’s justification for its actions, it has little to do with Ms. Meng, or her arrest, and more to do with how three of the ‘five-eyes’ intelligence sharing allies have decided not to use Huawei equipment on their networks, for security reasons.

Canadian citizens have been arrested, and are being subjected to what has been described by a previous hostage of the regime, Julia Garratt, as ‘mental torture’.

Canada needs to step up the pressure. Maybe close Canada’s passport offices in Guangzhou for a couple of weeks. Start vetting Visa applications from China for ‘security issues’ and such.

There’s a hard line here for some political party to take, and earn a LOT of political capital for 2019. Yet none of them are taking it. Too bad, too: Scheer could ride this thing into office like Regan did in 1980, but nope, he’s not going to touch it.

Nice try, but there is nothing but negatives for Canada coming out of this. Questionable move. – Garth

CBC and other media cleverly blaming Trump for the kidnapping of Canadian citizens by China. Very interesting.

And talk about arrogance…..to have the courage to kidnap citizens from the same country where they feel completely comfortable and entitled to store their own wealth (in houses, farmland, buildings, commercial operations, etc)? Very interesting.

“First he gave them weed. Now condos. What else are great nations built of?”

-Anyone who purchased a condo in the last 10 years has done well. Anyone who has been renting and investing the whole time…well..anyhow..

I’m 35. I don’t know any of my friends who voted Liberal in the last election. Must have been the younger Millennials in their 20’s. So, younger people voted more Liberal leaning politicians. Not surprising.

I do think there are a lot of older people who voted Liberal, but are afraid to admit it. Ask around and you will probably notice the same thing.

Garth, now maybe you will see what trump is trying to do in china. Trump is the only one tough enough to take on the nasties in this world. Trudeau cant even arrange his sock drawer without calling Butts for advice.

What these house drooling fools don’t realize is that their “home ownership” will become ever more burdensome as the Cdn government policies simultaneously increase their shelter costs and decrease their future earnings.

#23
It’s a lot lot more complicated than that. The case to extradite has only begun. It may conclude when Trump is gone even if he gets a second term.

Canada signed a treaty a long time ago. It is up to us to live up to it. Whether it is warranted or not in this case will be contested yet.

This will cost everyone a lot of money and a lot of lawyers will be in the middle of it. Don’t think that this was done on a whim. They’ve already considered the legal challenges on this one before any action was taken.

What Meng did is somewhat outlined in the book “Sons of the Yellow Emperor” by Lynn Pan. The chinese and I am of that ethnicity, have been able to pull it off through generations and they are still doing it. They will find ways around hurdles to economic wealth. This time Meng’s way was caught and not successful in the long game. She did not expect that.

For those who don’t like foreigners buying all the property, how about restrict sales to foreigners to only newly built properties. Maybe this can increase supply to markets that need it and not affect existing ‘used’ supply.

All the tax applied to foreigners or empty homes or whatever extra taxes there are now, apply that to discount the purchase price for local buyers or build rental homes or whatever type of housing is needed.

This way, new supply is built, local supply is made cheaper for locals, and maybe less angry people.

So let’s see, I heard recently there’s a 15 million dollar home somewhere in YVR. If that’s bought and there’s a 20% tax, which is 3 million dollars, then 3 million is used to discount local sales. Eg. 3 million / 10 homes = 300k discount applied to 10 homes bought by locals.

The arrest of Meng was not for any wrong doing in Canada. That is a superficial way of looking at it. From what I understand, we are keeping our end of a bargain.

She was detained at YVR on a provisional arrest warrant, under the terms of an extradition treaty between Canada and the United States.

Whether or not you agree with the arrest, what was Canada supposed to do? Maybe someone more educated could fill me in as it does not seem to me like Canada had a choice in the matter. Either make China mad or make USA mad…

none of this matters. the biosphere of the planet is collapsing and global warming is runaway with positive feedbacks. crops have begun to fail around the globe and civilization will collapse in the next 10 years. we need to decommission all nuclear reactors and deal with the nuclear waste as best we can while we still can or it will all burn uncontrollably. we need to prepare for collapse. the game is over and nature and physics is merciless. we waited too long and it’s a triage scenario now.

The Chinese newspapers call for “revenge” when a sovereign state lives up to it’s obligations under international law illustrates just how juvenile the Chinese government is. Dangerous children with a big inferiority complex.

You didn’t even mention the “Republic of Buffalo”. Alberta will probably get a new provincial government that will ask the people what we think of the current transfer payment agreement. Interesting year coming up indeed.

“The expected departure of future climates from those experienced in human history challenges efforts to adapt. Possible analogs to climates from deep in Earth’s geological past have been suggested but not formally assessed. We compare climates of the coming decades with climates drawn from six geological and historical periods spanning the past 50 My. Our study suggests that climates like those of the Pliocene will prevail as soon as 2030 CE and persist under climate stabilization scenarios. Unmitigated scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions produce climates like those of the Eocene, which suggests that we are effectively rewinding the climate clock by approximately 50 My, reversing a multimillion year cooling trend in less than two centuries.”https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/12/05/1809600115
GAME OVER!

Were you shopping for a $15 million house, and she got the last one? Pity. – Garth
_ _ _
As I said yesterday, which strangely didn’t make it through to the comments section, ten years ago that was a $4 million house. You asked why should I care? because the local lawyer of business owner who would have bought it ten years ago for $4 mil now has to go lookign a little further east for a bungalow to tear down. That bungalow was $1 mil and is replaced with a fancy house. The person who woudl have bought that bungalow now has to go lookign for a large condo, etc etc etc.

It’s not rocket science, it’s the knock-on effect.

And for Pete’s Sake everyone Meng is alleged to have committed bank fraud (during the Obama years BTW) by lying to HSBC about the connection between Huawei and Skycom. Bank fraud is a crime recognized in Canada so it is extradictable. Jeesh.

Mexico is a 3rd world, drug cartel violent hellhole which oppresses women and comprises of macho short men who harass female tourists.
__________________________________
From what I’ve read in the MSM it sounds like her companion (leaving a day early then offing himself) is the real culprit. Like the US, Mexico is a fantastic place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there.

True they are polls only, they often lie and perhaps it’s just people venting since the cost of voting in these venues is zero (i.e., no one has been elected or defeated…nor a new nation born).

Still, some major pluralities and the number of voters more than a significant sample size.

Crazy times Garth, indeed. I do not believe 2019 will be a good year for Canada, economically or politically but we’ll continue to create low wage gain Service Sector McJobs (of course, seasonally adjusted upwards from 48K to 94K…your basic StatCan Frankenumber).

Mexico is a 3rd world, drug cartel violent hellhole which oppresses women and comprises of macho short men who harass female tourists.
////////////

Stacy please read the whole story and not just the headline.
You will see that her travelling companion left home one day early from scheduled departure date and committed suicide.
Do you think he might have killed her?

Something is fishy about the whole Meng arrest deal. She has been on the Interpol most wanted list since last August. Undoubtedly she knew as did everyone around her. So why land in Vancouver and face certain arrest? Why now? Why during the trade meeting? Who benefits? No use complaining about Canada arresting her. It doesn’t matter if she didn’t break any laws here. She had a planet wide arrest warrant on her. The CBSA officers did exactly the right thing. Let the courts figure it all out.

Assange broke the law of disclosing materials harmful to the state security apparatus of the United States.

These were most harmful in that they showed the public that the normal operating procedure for the US in foreign policy and other matters is typically far removed from the public eyes and done in deep secrecy.

What does that imply about the self-proclaimed beacon of leadership and liberty, when their primary operations and actions are done through deception?

Speaking of Trudeau.
Imagine you are still in your college years and you and your buddies are sharing a few pitchers of beer. He would be the one who buys rounds for the next table and leaves before the bill comes.

That handle is already taken by a Long-Time Poster who asked you to pick another handle.

Do the right thing…

>Thanks, Flop. I’m actually kind of liking the impostor because now if I make a [email protected] mistake I have plausible deniability: not the balding guy — the guy with the man-bun. Just take everything a Long (-) Time Lurker posts with a grain of salt. How often do I get to make a comment with Justin Bieber, Guns N Roses and ZZ Top together here?

>I think Godth is the guy’s new handle. A twist on Garth? Similar writing style. Lose the man-bun. You won’t regret it.

I’d gone with a Sikh accquaintence to a ON PC leadership chinwag a few years ago. The crowd was all Sikhi guys, businessmen. Super friendly, successful and smart people. Did I mention smart?
Ergo a wasp which was swatted away elsewhere returned, to triumph.

Perhaps immigrants are our hope of swinging this
UN-pendulum country back over the Lynchpin of Leftism and into sanity. Gave me hope.

You know, StatCan is really starting to grate my butt as is Cdn MSM for its lack of investigation of their numbers.

StatCan have been taking rules out of the RE Cartel Frankenumber Playbook.

Could not believe the November 94,000 job increase. Well, IT ISN’T TRUE. And that from StatCan. It’s a seasonally adjusted estimate. The non-seasonally adjusted number is:

48,900.

Go to this StatCan page, select “Unadjusted” from the Data drop down list and do some math with the “Total employed, all industries” October and November 2018 numbers.

Cdn MSM just parroted that 94K number, did no verification and came up with some attention getting headlines and near direct text lifts from the Labour Force Survey.

Then in early December, StatCan informs us that Canadian’s managed to TIME WARP BACK IN TIME to 4th Qtr 2017 and spend some of their 4.3% Savings Rate.

Of course, StatCan caught them ’cause they can TIME WARP BACK IN TIME TOO and reported to us that Canadians had spent that 4.3% down to 2.3% as of Dec. 2018. StatCan also caught the same Canadians time warping back to January and spending their 4.4% savings rate down to 1.3% (foiled, yet again by StatCan).

As usual, Cdn MSM parroted the StatCan BS doom and gloom savings rate numbers, did no investigation but did devise catchy article titles.

Trudeau will lose votes if he starts pumping the housing market.
Their campaign promise was to make housing more affordable for Canadians.
Now that prices are falling, the optics will not go over well.

The central bank will lower the rate back to 0.25% in the next 2 years.Wait a couple of years and house prices will go up again.I read in the TC,Victoria house prices went up 5% to 10% according assements coming out next month for 2018.Good times are still here in Victoria.Don’t believe the fairy tales of higher rates to come,not gonna happen.Our interest rates will be like Japan,they’ve been doing zirp for over 25 years.Its all good,huge debt with very little money to service it!

“After my previous columns, we had a tremendous response from xx readers who expressed interest in private mortgages, many of them becoming investors. One reader in particular has invested almost $4 million into deals over the last year, with an average yield of nine per cent.

Many retired readers expressed interest simply because of the cash flow, short terms and security.”

Garth, I was interested in this not because I wanted anything to do with private mortgages but because it states that it was possible to get 9%. That means that desperate people are not paying 2.5% or 3% are paying 9%. A 500,000 mortgage at 9%. Nearly 4,000 a month in interest. Who can afford that? Even if someone is earning 10,000 that is gross, not net take home pay. If desperate people are taking private mortgages at 9%, we are going to see crash and burn.

Yes. ICYMI, … this is the very first time that a corporate executive is being arrested. In all previous sanctions violations, corporations had to pay huge fined, … but executives were always left alone. True:

I find this debit thing overwhelming but I also find that it somehow corresponds to the climate change disasters. And what really bothers me not a soul has created a couple of graphs, one for debt and one for climate change disasters. Maybe a good student project.

And using the words climate change are the wrong words to use. Climate change sounds like over there, not my problem, shrug the shoulders as if who knows. Yup, climate change, it did it again, don’t know why. Let us carry on and keep disrupting the earth. I am making millions who cares about anything and anybody else.

As my dear, old Dad would say “Can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.” In other words in this case talk all you want but not listening, and carry on as if all is normal.

So living up to our extradition treaty with the USA is a public policy mistake? She was arrested by Canadian law enforcement on the basis of a US warrant, which we are obligated to do under the current extradition treaty we have win the US.

There was no “public policy” consideration, nor should their be. We don’t arrest people based on public policy considerations, nor based on how rich they are. That’s the way the law is supposed to work. She has been granted bail with strict conditions, and a Canadia court will now rule on the validity of the charges she faces in the US, and decide whether or not to proceed with extradition on that basis.

Meng will be entitled to the best representation she can afford (which means the best period) throughout the process. Sounds textbook to me. Too bad if it roils markets and hurts somebody’s portfolio value.

“At the beginning of Trump there was this idea that maybe the Chinese would replace the Americans” as Canada’s pre-eminent trade partner “but that’s just nuts,” said historian Bothwell, a University of Toronto professor. “Relations for any smaller country with China are really grave.”

Interesting how it is postulated that the drop in sales and value of high end homes has a ripple effect on less costly homes that follows subsequently. However, it is now stated that purchasing multiple high end homes has no effect or ripple effect of demand pull on raising the cost of more affordable homes subsequently.

Is this turner logic?

Can someone explain this?

Every major city has luxury homes few can afford. Only in Van is there such bald envy and obsession. Get over it. – Garth

It would seem by the comments here and on the same thread the other day that Ms. Meng has become little more than a chess piece, to be moved hither and yon by whatever means to wherever. Frankly I regret the comment I made the other day about how to rid Canada of this troublesome woman.

She is a human being, caught up in the machinations of a country ruled by a president with little to no regard for the rule of law. I have no idea if she is directly responsible for the crime she is accused of. I have no idea if the crime is actually a crime anywhere else save the United States.

If I were asked if she should be freed, my vote would be that she is released. But only to officials from the Chinese embassy in Vancouver. They at least would be able to prevent her from being scooped off the street by US agents.

@#88 PeterfromCalgary on 12.13.18 at 9:44 pm
If Fake eyebrow wins again Alberta Separatism will become very popular.
_______________________________
When has it not been? some albertans have been whining for generations. you can carry on your sad lament for sovereignty all you like but it’ll never happen.

If there will be promises or steps to help RE I would love to see first that:
– Canadians demand to make mortgate interest tax deductible (works well is US);
– GTA demands that Lax Transfer Tax is back to 1x.

Re
@#88 PeterfromCalgary on 12.13.18 at 9:44 pm
If Fake eyebrow wins again Alberta Separatism will become very popular.
_______________________________
When has it not been? some albertans have been whining for generations. you can carry on your sad lament for sovereignty all you like but it’ll never happen.
——————————————————————
You and many others are in for a big surprise. Just watch us….

#3 A Guy in Vancouver has a point, Garth, give him some cred. Still tons of empty houses here in Kits, not rented, not being torn down, just sittin’. See them every night on my doggy walk, looking at the Christmas lights. And there’s no place to rent, and rent cost is horrifying.

Hey Cicely,Unlike you I read and travel the world.I have friends in many countries and they all tell me whats going on in their own country.Open your eyes and stop watcing CBC,CNN and Bloomberg news.I know Canadians are indoctrinated all the way from kindergarten to university of lies and propaganda.My advice to you is to read,travel and don’t believe anything the goverment tells you.Good luck buddy and God bless.

#28 MF on 12.13.18 at 5:46 pm
I’m only a few years older than you and I voted Liberal.
Not that it mattered, the Lib guy in my district won in a landslide, but I made the mistake of voting for just one campaign promise:Removing the FPTP system.
JT dumped that idea right quick, leaving me pretty much apathetic towards ever voting in the future. I mean if there is no way to know what I am voting for, it makes the decision pretty hard. Vote for the guy I think is most likely to not change his mind? I’m not that good a judge of character with people I’ve never met…
I guess I can start voting against the politician who lied to me? Bleh.

#16 Mapleridgerenter on 12.13.18 at 5:04 pm
Hi Garth. I usually agree with most of what you have to say, but calling the Meng arrest a public policy mistake is one I don’t agree with. She is aledged to have broken the law in Canada, and there was a warrant out for her arrest. Plain and simple. Are you suggesting it was a mistake to arrest a Chinese citizen, or is it because she is very rich and therefore above the law? I just don’t u derstand your take on this one.

What Canadian law did she break? – Garth
______________________________

This is not even the point. Who cares what Meng did. What matters is that Canada stuck their stupid idiot noses BETWEEN the US and China “to uphold the rule of law”. They could have put her on a plane to her destination and washed their hands of the whole mess, call Trump and tell him, “she’s on a plane in your airspace, you deal with it”. One day, China will be the dominant economy on the plant and they’ll remember this.

“#28 MF on 12.13.18 at 5:46 pm
“First he gave them weed. Now condos. What else are great nations built of?”

-Anyone who purchased a condo in the last 10 years has done well. Anyone who has been renting and investing the whole time…well..anyhow..

I’m 35. I don’t know any of my friends who voted Liberal in the last election. Must have been the younger Millennials in their 20’s. So, younger people voted more Liberal leaning politicians. Not surprising.

I do think there are a lot of older people who voted Liberal, but are afraid to admit it. Ask around and you will probably notice the same thing.

MF”

My parents both voted Liberal. I plan on voting Conservative as soon as I build the nerve up to leave the nest. It’s phenomenally comfortable in the basement here with my mother upstairs gleefully taking care of all my needs. For instance, today she made her famous stuffed chipotle the chicken roast with several sides.

I will let you in on something MF, I have a solid investing strategy. I put all my funds in my piggie bank and let deflation do its magic. Gosh, I must have near a hundrede in there right now. Not spending it can be tough but I keep my eye on the prize.

And then there is Victoria, the capital city of the province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada’s Pacific coast……The Victoria Real Estate Board dated Mon Dec 10, 2018:

Ten days in and going strong. More choices, less competition, lots of time to research properties. Perfect time to consider purchasing is now; while everyone is sleeping. Keep your eyes open for some good deals. Look for properties that have been on the market for a long time and may not of noticed prices have dropped, offer anyway with consideration to recent comparable. I have been in the industry 27 years and no matter how high real estate is and how unrealistic the asking prices are; I am continuously surprised when 10 years later I wish I had bought then! It a shelter, everyone needs one. Study the market and buy what you can afford and keep upgrading by little increments. You will never regret paying off your mortgage.

Comment 86 is very valid. These houses would never have been worth $15M if all the supply wasn’t taken by people just parking money here. In reality that house is only worth $3M but due to our non enforcement of tax laws and any anti money laundering enforcement process at all we can only guess to what is driving the market.

According to stats can I earn in the top 10% of all Canadians and I can’t afford an apartment in Vancouver…maybe if I lives below the poverty line I could afford a place in Richmond like everyone else…

#86 Wait There on 12.13.18 at 9:18 pm
Interesting how it is postulated that the drop in sales and value of high end homes has a ripple effect on less costly homes that follows subsequently. However, it is now stated that purchasing multiple high end homes has no effect or ripple effect of demand pull on raising the cost of more affordable homes subsequently.

Is this turner logic?

Can someone explain this?

————–

If people bought what they could afford rather than desperately chasing house prices, there would not have been a run up in prices. Lots of expensive homes in Charlotte, NC but the average home is still only 200k…

Don’t blame people who can afford the expensive home for your (or the market’s) stupidity.

#64 Dolce Vita on 12.13.18 at 7:22 pm
You know, StatCan is really starting to grate my butt as is Cdn MSM for its lack of investigation of their numbers.

—————————————-

They don’t call it lies, they just redefine methodologies and metrics to suit them best.
Remember, there is no inflation here.

BTW BoC just bought MBS exactly when the CMHC hits the mortgage insurance limits of 40 billions for this year.

Mortgage ‘insurance’ is a strange animal.
It does not exist anywhere else in the world.

Banks issue quality mortgages only, remember?
These are the most prudent banks in the world we are being told.
So why the need for insurance?

And why the insurance is paid by the buyer when it covers the lender?

We keep throwing tons of lipstick on a pig. In my estimate there is 1-3 years time-frame in which ‘things could hold’, i.e. steep decline of real estate combined with aggressive inflation and reduction in income but after that…

Make no mistake, real rates (on deposits as this is what BoC controls) can not rise meaningfully, while inflation will be rampant and the government through our taxes and BoC will cover the losses for the banks who only originate mortgages without much risk.

Perpetum mobile until it breaks, Australia is breaking already/even they don;t have mortgage insurance.

While the central bank said the expansion is “only for balance sheet management” and would give it added flexibility to offset the continued growth of bank notes, the cynical skeptics immediately accused the BoC of implicitly stepping in to prop up Canada’s deteriorating housing market.

The expansion, the BoC said, would also provide more freedom to reduce its participation in primary Canadian government bond auctions and help boost the tradeable float, supporting secondary market liquidity.

No worries, Stats Canada is on line to produce the next outstanding ‘no inflation’, good jobs report.
So with inflation of 6-8 % and real growth (remember it is credit driven) of -5 % we report inflation of 1-2 % and imaginary growth of 2 %.

Not quite following the logic of this column. T2 needs young votes. Young votes want houses. T2 must therefore propose policies that lower the cost of houses for his believers as the banks and the bank regulator won’t let him further damage the quality of loans on the banks’ books. House prices will therefore drift down between now and the election.

Plenty of action here in Britain. News is riveting every day. Brexit has been kicked down the road till after Christmas. Since you can bet on anything in this country at the bookies, I have £10 on the deal being passed in late January after MPs have been home after Christmas and told they are idiots by their ridings. Shame that Italy rolled over to the EU though re their budget plans. Voters there won’t like that.

#90 KLNR Um, watch what happens when we start buying yellow vests. We already have guns. All we have to do is shut off the oil and gas and you lose. If it’s winter, you lose immediately. Freeze and die bastard.

I agree with what you’ve said, the USofA threw us under the bus to disrupt our trade and political relations with China.

They could have easily grabbed her on the connecting flight to Mexico as it was passing thru US airspace. Passenger manifests of commercial aircraft flying over but not landing in the US are required to be submitted to the appropriate agencies beforehand. They knew she was coming.

It’s not like they couldn’t have had national guard fighters escort her plane to any airport they wished and force it to land. They chose this tactic on purpose. And it would not have the first time…. It would however be the first time it made world news though, sadly as it demonstrates how illiterate even our own officials are to when, how and why the extradition treaty is to be used..

If it was my call, when Ms. Meng stepped off the plane, I would have whisked her to the Chinese Embassy and said, ‘here ya go. Don’t come back to Canada until you get your issues sorted out with the US. Your husband and kids can come and go as they please, eh.’

Some posters here, perhaps even Garth himself, don’t seem to know what an extradition treaty is. If US authorities tell Canadian authorities that there is a warrant out for Meng’s arrest, then the Canadian authorities must apprehend her according to the treaty and extradite her to the US.

It doesn’t matter whether she broke CANADIAN law. Apparently she broke an American law and Canada is obligated to catch and (eventually) extradite her.

I’m just not clear on why the “extradition” part of the procedure is taking so long.

Very interesting, basically removing pay on maturity, so it is not a bond anymore/all bonds mature but perpetual income stream which for sure will be under-priced as inflation is understated and for sure the only buyers will be BoC and the pension funds that will be mandated to hold ‘safe’ stuff. This way the outstanding debt will not be reported as debt but have a part of the budget dedicated to ‘annuities’. Voila, no federal debt anymore folks.

Served with the untruth that investors like to hold the government debt, if so and our debt is small why these tricks?

They will not rest until they steal the pensions in any shape or form possible.

Lesson – whenever this team faces an actually capable opponent, they wilt and get crushed.

*Just like Toronto and the GTA gets destroyed when you properly compare the livability there with other far superior locales across Canada. Only the greatest fools have been propping up the housing bubble there.

Perhaps the Make Believe players can’t focus on hockey when they are on the road because they’re too worried about getting their Porsches stolen back home in Trauma!

But also very notably, second-hand and charity shops. They are making a killing, what with increasing hordes of “middle-class” shoppers. The well-heeled, with their current model vehicles are pouring into them. Bargains galore and NO RETAIL TAX. ie:

Governments complain incessantly about empty coffers and dwindling tax revenues, yet seem blind to the fact that they waited far too long to begin the interest normalization process. A quick fix, too fast is not the answer either. Dumb debt-lemmings must be given time to adjust their idiotic over-spending…….ie 10 basis points per quarter for a total increase of .4% per year.

And paying any attention to histrionic FIRE bleatings in MSM is a YUGE and damaging mistake.

Retail is an enormous and steady source of real-economy tax revenue. Many will try to accommodate their budgets with alternatives to retail, because TPTB, in their infinite wisdom, screwed the economy by dropping rates and will compensate by screwing its citizens with ever-increasing taxes.

#123 Howard on 12.14.18 at 4:23 am
Some posters here, perhaps even Garth himself, don’t seem to know what an extradition treaty is.

I’m just not clear on why the “extradition” part of the procedure is taking so long.
————————————————————
An extradition treaty isn’t a arrest on sight and rendition treaty. A Canadian judge needs to rule on whether there is evidence-based merit, ie is she being extradited to certain death, is there a real law broken or is this aggressive diplomatic negotiation by other means etc etc…

The political side of this is what I believe Garth is commenting on. YVR is a busy place, maybe someone makes their connection, maybe they don’t… Sorry to rock your world but this was not decided by a random constable at a checkin gate…

#82 Raging Ranter on 12.13.18 at 9:03 pm
So living up to our extradition treaty with the USA is a public policy mistake? She was arrested by Canadian law enforcement on the basis of a US warrant, which we are obligated to do under the current extradition treaty we have win the US.

There was no “public policy” consideration, nor should their be. We don’t arrest people based on public policy considerations, nor based on how rich they are. That’s the way the law is supposed to work. She has been granted bail with strict conditions, and a Canadia court will now rule on the validity of the charges she faces in the US, and decide whether or not to proceed with extradition on that basis.

Meng will be entitled to the best representation she can afford (which means the best period) throughout the process. Sounds textbook to me. Too bad if it roils markets and hurts somebody’s portfolio value.

It hurts Canada. – Garth

***

I’m with Raging Ranter (and others) on this one. I agree it will hurt Canada but imagine the long term negative impact if we would have not respected the treaty. Keeping your word always works long term especially when done in tough situations (cue dramatic music).

@#118 Nonplused on 12.14.18 at 2:39 am
#90 KLNR Um, watch what happens when we start buying yellow vests. We already have guns. All we have to do is shut off the oil and gas and you lose. If it’s winter, you lose immediately. Freeze and die bastard.
__________________________________

@#94 CalgaryCarGuy on 12.13.18 at 10:19 pm
Re
@#88 PeterfromCalgary on 12.13.18 at 9:44 pm
If Fake eyebrow wins again Alberta Separatism will become very popular.
_______________________________
When has it not been? some albertans have been whining for generations. you can carry on your sad lament for sovereignty all you like but it’ll never happen.
——————————————————————
You and many others are in for a big surprise. Just watch us….
______________________________________
lol, whining from folks like you never surprises me anymore. Like Quebec’s feeble attempt it will never happen. Move on and live your life.

You’re critisizing democracy on a public forum without fear and you dont see the irony in that?

Please please go to China and visit Tiananmen Square with a poster of Winnie the Poo with the caption “President Xi has a big furry butt” ………..and see how long before the police drag you away…….. 1 minute? 2 max?

“Now we have the infamous Meng arrest, an obvious public policy mistake, further telegraphing that this is a capricious, unstable and hostile place in which to invest.”
– Garth
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“If a great country yields to a small country, it will conquer the small country. If a small country yields to a great country, it will be conquered by the great country.”

Does this make sense or just tell me this is crazy?
——————————————————————–

OK, This is crazy.

You are making the errant assumption that the government uses taxes to assist their citizenry.

Hahahahahahaha.

Silly person.

The government makes EXCUSES to tax its citizens, under the guise of assisting them.

Taxes are squandered by governments to line the pockets of special interest groups, politicians, and other wasteful make-work-projects for which the people whose money it is in the first place never see any benefit.

#123 Howard on 12.14.18 at 4:23 am
Some posters here, perhaps even Garth himself, don’t seem to know what an extradition treaty is. If US authorities tell Canadian authorities that there is a warrant out for Meng’s arrest, then the Canadian authorities must apprehend her according to the treaty and extradite her to the US.

It doesn’t matter whether she broke CANADIAN law. Apparently she broke an American law and Canada is obligated to catch and (eventually) extradite her.

^^ This. The armchair lawyers seem quite sure Canada could just ignore a warrant. The poor CCB agent I guess should have a direct line to the PM to check whether he should make the arrest.

Mexico is a 3rd world, drug cartel violent hellhole which oppresses women and comprises of macho short men who harass female tourists.
—————————————————————–
So a Canadian kills another Canadian in Mexico and your conclusion is that Mexicans are to blame???

#16 Mapleridgerenter on 12.13.18 at 5:04 pm
Hi Garth. I usually agree with most of what you have to say, but calling the Meng arrest a public policy mistake is one I don’t agree with. She is aledged to have broken the law in Canada, and there was a warrant out for her arrest. Plain and simple. Are you suggesting it was a mistake to arrest a Chinese citizen, or is it because she is very rich and therefore above the law? I just don’t u derstand your take on this one.

What Canadian law did she break? – Garth
—————————————————————–
She allegedly broke a US law and there was a warrant for her arrest. Under our treaties with the US, we had to send her. Or would you prefer the next time a Canadian fugitive flees to the US if they don’t send them back?

we should focus all our energy on decommissioning nuclear reactors and dealing with the waste as best we can, while we still can. the precautionary principle. when it all goes completely pear shaped the last thing the planet needs is those things going critical.﻿

You are making the errant assumption that the government uses taxes to assist their citizenry.

Hahahahahahaha.

Silly person.

The government makes EXCUSES to tax its citizens, under the guise of assisting them.

Taxes are squandered by governments to line the pockets of special interest groups, politicians, and other wasteful make-work-projects for which the people whose money it is in the first place never see any benefit.

If there will be promises or steps to help RE I would love to see first that:
– Canadians demand to make mortgage interest tax deductible (works well is US);

*************************************
Careful what we ask for…

This would be designed of course to make houses more affordable especially for first-time buyers.

But as soon as that started to work, supply and demand forces would move home prices somewhat higher. Owners of existing homes (and new home builders) would definitely scoop some of the benefit. Possibly a large portion.

Did massively lower interest rates, in the end, make houses more affordable?

In the end interest destructibility would likely make homes a bit more affordable despite pushing home prices higher (you want that?)

It would add complexity to already enormously complex income tax system.

And, by the way, where exactly would you make up the lost income tax revenue? Who would pay more income tax so that those with mortgages would pay less income tax?

No, this is one idea (among, it now seems clear, so many!) we should not copy from the Americans.

I agree with what you’ve said, the USofA threw us under the bus to disrupt our trade and political relations with China.

They could have easily grabbed her on the connecting flight to Mexico as it was passing thru US airspace. Passenger manifests of commercial aircraft flying over but not landing in the US are required to be submitted to the appropriate agencies beforehand. They knew she was coming.

It’s not like they couldn’t have had national guard fighters escort her plane to any airport they wished and force it to land. They chose this tactic on purpose. And it would not have the first time…. It would however be the first time it made world news though, sadly as it demonstrates how illiterate even our own officials are to when, how and why the extradition treaty is to be used..
__________________________________
Bingo!

Am not sure how, with such a small population, we managed to land so many dummies on this side of the border. I’m thinking it must have started during the great migration into north america in the early 1900’s, the migrants would get off the boat, travel west in their donkey carts to Minneapolis or Chicago, the smart ones turned left, the dummies turned right……….and here we are a hundred or so years later……

#154 Shawn Allen – I have read the treaty and similar crime for at least a year, becomes nothing more than a benchmark. Meng had a 12 hour lay over in Vancouver, and she knew the risk involved. Meng committed no crime in Canada within this context only.

Whether or not you agree with the arrest, what was Canada supposed to do? Maybe someone more educated could fill me in as it does not seem to me like Canada had a choice in the matter. Either make China mad or make USA mad…
____

No brainer – especially after Freeland’s speech about how Canada is a rule of law Country. We have an agreement with the USA, we’re going to follow the rules of that agreement. We would expect the same from them, and China would expect the same from us (if we had a similar treaty with them – we don’t).

Pissing off the USA would be 10X worse for Canada than pissing off China.

It’s unconscionable that a cadre of politicians and central bankers have produced a housing bubble the likes of which we’ve never seen. Naive sheep buying at the top will be roadkill, and many are already flattened and curb stomped.

Garth’s prose is unparalleled in the anals of financial writing:

“And the ghost of Tony Clement hangs like an unending flatulence over the opposition lobby.”

There is the letter of the law and there is the spirit of the law. Meng’s charges, rest on Trump’s sanctioning of Iran and scuttling their nuclear agreement. Canada should NOT be complicit in any way with any fallout from this shameful self serving (and other serving, like Saudi Arabia) ‘law.’

We are boot lickers on this one. And rule of law? You seriously think Canada is steeped in the rule of law, to begin with?

A recent stay of court proceedings to try a case against foreign money launderers (on OUR soil) that took months to investigate, says otherwise. The rcmp spokesperson herself admitted they had to go through all the evidence and figure out who among their own were involved?? Huh? Wait for the follow up? When? Never?

THAT is a travesty of ‘justice,’ very third world-ish. So don’t all of you prim types think Canada can rest on the lily white laurels of its judiciary when it is essentially complicit in kidnapping a foreigner.

And don’t conflate kidnapping a foreigner as somehow justifies because she owns expensive homes in Vancouver. There may be a tangential connection, or not. Who knows. They are two separate issues.

Forgive me for rattling on about this. It just rots my socks that we have to play earnest hand maiden to an amoral wretch of a president AND by extension his murderous cronies in Saudi Arabia.

One expert said that Canada will only extradite if the accused crime is also a crime in Canada. He said we would need to have a roughly similar crime.

If that is true, then maybe it can be a reason to set her free. That and the political interference by Trump are possible reasons.

Also off the wall theory: Some have said she should have known she would be arrested. Is it possible this was a way to get out of China and into Canada? Defection by cop? Yeah, probably a wild theory…
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Bank fraud is a crime in Canada. Lying about ownership of a company to have a bank process a transaction they otherwise wouldn’t have, is fraud.

Tweet by investigative journalist Chris Parry, “Memo to Vancouver realtors who think the waterfront market is back because 2854 Bellevue in West Van sold for $16m: Nope. The buyer is central to the Bridgemark scandal, currently being investigated, and I’m guessing needed somewhere to stash a lot of cash
2854bellevue.com”

If you are unfamiliar with Bridgemark scheme investigation by CSE regulators, Google “Bridgemark BCSC”

Of course. China has millions of folks willing to work for a 1.00/hr. Who wouldn’t want to cash in on that gravy train? I’d put 4-5 of ’em to work around my place if I could.

After Boeing gets their planes built for 1.00/hr, they will then sell thousands of them them to Chinese State owned companies for 100% full price. Then they will remit Trillions of those Yuans back to the good old US of A in the form of taxes.

Could you possibly clutch your pearls any tighter? You would consign a foreigner who fibbed about details of ownership of a subsidiary company tto 30 years or more in the American gulag to comply with some bs order from the U.S? Give your head a shake.

This isn’t a “well tut tut, she should have known better,” affair. You are actively promoting what amounts to a high moral crime on the part of Canadians.

133 Remembrancer
For the long be if Pete, have you been reading any of the explanations on how an extradition treaty works? It is not an optional thing, Canada has made a commitment as a country.

And nowhere has it been claimed this was a random constable who busted Meng. The USA issued a warrant in August. It is worth remembering that post-9/11 the Americans have the passenger manifest of all flights overflying their territory. They saw Meng’s name on the manifest for the YVR-Mexico flight and asked Canada to apprehend her for extradition. Simple.

For all the weak-kneed who say we should have looked the other way, remember China desperately wants an extradition treaty with Canada. If you’re carrying on this way about an ally’s request, what would you do when they asked us to hand someone over to them?

Could you possibly clutch your pearls any tighter? You would consign a foreigner who fibbed about details of ownership of a subsidiary company tto 30 years or more in the American gulag to comply with some bs order from the U.S? Give your head a shake.

This isn’t a “well tut tut, she should have known better,” affair. You are actively promoting what amounts to a high moral crime on the part of Canadians.
—————————————————————-

What are you rambling about? This isn’t an issue of she should have known better. She knew they wouldn’t open an account for a company trading with Iran. Because the bank told her. As they do when they open any bank account in the US or Canada. Don’t like those rules? Ok, open an account with another bank, not in the US. It’s really simple.

I don’t much care how the US chooses to punish those who break their laws.

Gulf Breeze, take a pill. She had a fair hearing to rule on her arrest in an open court. A Canadian court will now review the evidence in the US arrest warrant and make a decision to extradite or not, based on the evidence. Trump will have nothing to do with it, despite whatever random brain farts he might emit about using her as a negotiating chip. Our justice system is far from perfect, but it is far better than any known alternative, especially that which exists in Meng’s homeland.

If you disagree, what’s our alternative? That politicians start stepping in and intervening when the police and/or courts make decisions that offend your sensibilities? You have more in common with Trump than you’d care to admit.

These articles are incredibly confusing. Debt to income ratios of 172% mean that Canadians do not have enough monthly income to cover their monthly payments. All the calculators I’ve seen on debt to income take total pretax income divided by total monthly debt payments. Anyone running 172% ratio would not be able to service their debt, much less eat or put gas in the car. As a pre tax ratio, that would mean bankruptcy.

I believe they are talking about overall debt to income. So lets say I make 100K, and owe 172K, I have a debt/income ration of 172%. This is much different, I would be very comfortable with 100K income and 172K total debt if that debt included a mortgage. Even more so If the house has a current value of 500K.

In my families case, we have something like 2x debt to income (as described above) but our GDS and TDS are 16 and 22% as defined here:

And this isn’t even taking in to account assets, and net worth. So are we in trouble or not? I know the answer, but important to point out that these percentages, without even understanding the math, is ridiculous. I’m not suggesting Canadians are in a good place, but what does the 172% represent because it can’t be GDS or TDS.

Meng was flagged by HSBC for suspicious transactions. They have the reputation of being the main laundry point for hot-dirty money. For them to advertise the fact something wasn’t right implies that the issue was too big for them to ignore and the didn’t want to be implicated themselves.

Of course the official accusations are fabricated. Of course it will backfire, and it already has. US gets to benefit in the trade war. China uses this as an excuse to apprehend foreign nationals, supposedly in retaliation. Xi gets to use the situation against Meng’s father, who supposedly is high up in the political chain, but not fully subordinate, being an independent industrialist.

So it’s a giant mess of governments not letting a good crisis go to waste. Meanwhile Canada gets nothing. Wags its tail to satisfy its Northern ally who is as comfy with the situation as can be.

I don’t know what Meng is really guilty of if anything. But what’s done is done. To deviate from the legal process is to create even more problems. Let her stay and fight extradition in perpetuity. Of all the countries where she could’ve been apprehended, Canada is the best place to be a fugitive. Ecuadorian Embassy already has a tenant and they don’t have vacancies.

n’t pay a credit card bill with a cash advance or a credit card. You can’t afford the interest on pay day loans every time you run out of cash just before bills are due. You have become a slave to your spending habits. Case closed.

#139 KLNR on 12.14.18 at 8:32 am
@#94 CalgaryCarGuy on 12.13.18 at 10:19 pm
Re
@#88 PeterfromCalgary on 12.13.18 at 9:44 pm
If Fake eyebrow wins again Alberta Separatism will become very popular.
_______________________________
When has it not been? some albertans have been whining for generations. you can carry on your sad lament for sovereignty all you like but it’ll never happen.
——————————————————————
You and many others are in for a big surprise. Just watch us….
______________________________________
lol, whining from folks like you never surprises me anymore. Like Quebec’s feeble attempt it will never happen. Move on and live your life.
______________________________________

A little harsh. The only Canadians who don’t value Albertan oil are the people in your head.

Only 4/10 Canadians voted Liberal in the last election. Among those, I doubt any harbour “anti western thoughts”. If they do they are clueless.

Let’s get back to reality.

MF
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sure, 4/10 voted Liberal. Another 2.5+/10 voted NDP or Green. Between 60-70% of Canuck voters cast ballots for left wing parties. When it is 60% only, we typically get a Conservative gov’t, and when 65% or greater, we get Liberals (or sometimes in some provinces, NDP).

I would agree that *most* of those left-wing voters are not “anti western Canada” in the pure sense – they are just against any resource development. And are for ever more government spending and control. So effectively, this 60-70% of Canadians have interests which are against much of Alberta interests.

I live in Ontario, but fully support Albertans that believe that the only way they forge a successful future is by pursing separation. If I lived in AB, I would support this whole heartedly. At the very least, they need to pursue this to have a hope of bringing sanity to this federation.

Canadians, on the whole, are extremely delusional, engaging completely in, as Orwell said, “double think”.
– Are against resources such as fossil fuels but do nothing to alter their own consumption.
– Believe that all it takes is a few solar panels and windmills to give all the power we need, and all central power plants can be shut down, and expect that power rates should go down
– And that these “green energy” jobs will expand endlessly to provide jobs for all (although “they” don’t want them)
– Believe their own taxes are too high, but the government should spend more money to build a never ending set of new programs (national pharmacare, daycare, green energy programs, …)
– Are all for increased immigration, but can’t square the fact that as more people come from warm climates with less consumption, to our cold climate with inherently more consumption, that it might affect our ability to reduce overall energy use in our northern country (or meet the ol’ Paris Accord)

Mattl at 173 suggests the ratio is confusing and not that scary saying:

I believe they are talking about overall debt to income. So lets say I make 100K, and owe 172K, I have a debt/income ration of 172%. This is much different, I would be very comfortable with 100K income and 172K total debt if that debt included a mortgage. Even more so If the house has a current value of 500K.

******************************
Absolutely right. In not one case have I seen this described correctly as debt to ANNUAL income.

They just say debt to income without any time period of the income bothered to be mentioned.

And the implication seems to be that anything over 100% is a disaster. Look Canadians owe more than they make!

Everyone seems to have an agenda and describing things clearly and plainly and fairly is not usually part of that agenda (except in my case of course).

Oh, now it’s my sensibilities that are being offended? Right. No, it’s my moral core, something you appear to lack as do all of the Casper milquetoast toasts on this blog that stand behind their government when it wimps out to the U.S.

Check out the condo featured in this article. It’s a little rich for a representative Pink Snow listing, and really needs a category that reflects the rarified air that it occupies. May I suggest Pink Truffle?

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The views expressed are those of the author, Garth Turner, a Raymond James Financial Advisor, and not necessarily those of Raymond James Ltd. It is provided as a general source of information only and should not be considered to be personal investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities. Investors considering any investment should consult with their Investment Advisor to ensure that it is suitable for the investor's circumstances and risk tolerance before making any investment decision. The information contained in this blog was obtained from sources believed to be reliable, however, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete. Raymond James Ltd. is a member of the Canadian Investor Protection Fund.